The Covenant baseball team turned the program's first triple play in the first game, but the Scots dropped a pair of one-run games to Maryville on Saturday. Maryville took game one 5-4 before winning 6-5 in the finale to take the USA South series win.
Covenant drops to 6-9 overall and 1-5 in the USA South, while Maryville goes to 7-7 overall and 4-2 in league play.
In the seventh inning of game one, Maryville put runners at first and second with nobody out.
Maryville's Hayden Hollingsworth popped up his bunt attempt and Caleb Bloye made a diving catch before throwing to Lewis Saunders at first for the second out and Saunders completed the triple play by throwing to Julien Amorelli at second.
GAME ONE: Maryville 5, Covenant 4
Maryville rallied from an early deficit and broke a 4-4 tie with a run in the ninth to come away with a 5-4 win in Saturday's first game.
Covenant took a 2-0 lead in the third as Devin Cerrato doubled home Saunders before Alex Kerr reached on a fielder's choice that enabled Cerrato to score from third. Maryville answered in the fourth when Derek Hurt hit a three-run homer to left field giving the visiting Scots a 3-2 lead.
Down 4-2 in the seventh, Covenant got out of a jam in the top of the inning with the program's first triple play to thwart a Maryville attempt to add to its lead. The Scots used the momentum to score two runs in the home half of the seventh, both coming on a Cerrato two-run home run to left field. The homer was Cerrato's second of the year.
Maryville was able to scratch a run across on a safety squeeze bunt in the top of the ninth as Johnny Carpenter drove in Andrew Henry for the go-ahead run.
Starter Drew Bradley went five innings and allowed three unearned runs on two hits with five strikeouts. Grant Kierpa (0-2) got the loss for Covenant in relief as he went 3.2 innings. Cerrato finished 3-for-5 with three RBIs and two runs scored, while Forrest Hunter had two hits in four trips.
Drew Johnson was 3-for-4 and Hurt had three RBIs for Maryville. Starting pitcher Anthony Rodriguez went 5.2 innings before giving way to the bullpen. Joe Jones (1-0) got the win in relief as he threw 2.2 scoreless innings.
GAME TWO: Maryville 6, Covenant 5
It was another ninth inning run that broke a tie game and gave Maryville a 6-5 win, and a series victory, in Saturday's finale. Bryce Redaja gave Maryville a 6-5 lead in the top of the ninth inning with his leadoff solo home run to right-center field.
Like in game one, Covenant took an early lead as the Scots led 3-0 through three innings. Amorelli and Trenton Nobles had RBI hits in a two-run second inning, while Hunter drove in Cerrato with an RBI single in the third to make it 3-0.
In the fourth, Maryville got two runs back as Eric Hart singled home a pair with two outs to make it a 3-2 game. Maryville took a 4-3 lead in the fifth as Redaja singled home a run and then a double steal gave the northern Scots the lead.
Covenant answered in the fifth when Joel Johnson hit a two-run double to center field that scored Amorelli and Kerr giving the Scots a 5-4 lead. Maryville got a run in the sixth on Patrick Messinger's two-out RBI single and the score remained until the ninth.
Covenant starter Zach Kyzer went five innings and surrendered four runs on six hits with four punch outs. Jackson Heuer (0-1) gets the loss. Hunter had three hits, while Johnson had two in the loss.
Reliever Zach McGee (1-0) tossed the final 4.1 innings and picked up the win. Andrew Henry had three hits, while Redaja and Hart had two RBIs apiece.
Covenant will travel to N.C. Wesleyan on
Friday, March 10 for a doubleheader beginning at
12 p.m.